Last year I was working on the icad or index-card-a-day project where I painted one index card per day over the span of two months, totalling 60 cards. During that time I purchased some loose colour pencils. I had been wanting to draw a little penguin quilt pattern in Viking costume for ages, so I decided I would make that block for a pencil case.
This little penguin is Olaf and he loves his helmet with horns on it. I tried to tell him that Viking helmets didn’t have horns, but he was most insistent. He thought they made him look more mighty.
The pattern is for a 10″ block, but I made a 7″ one for my pencil case. I finished the block long ago and finally, during my attempt to finish a few projects, the pencil case was completed. I usually travel with my pencil cases, so I needed to use a dark fabric. Brown was perfect, plus, it made me think of a wooden hut where Olaf might live.
I used a frosty branch fabric for the inside. After all, penguins have to have snow! This pencil case comfortably fits my pencils and my water brushes. It is not too large, but big enough for me to toss a sketchbook in there and tie the ribbons around it.
Olaf is available on my Etsy and Craftsy stores if you want to make one. I am thinking of making a couple of friends for him and Polaris –
Little Penguin Polaris on Etsy and Craftsy
A couple of years ago, my friend Janine from Rainbow Hare hosted Making Christmas. I wrote a tutorial for that event on how to make a pencil case featuring a decorative piece in the front. I made this little pencil case then with Little Penguin Polaris for my micron pens. I followed my own tutorial to make the new one and it hardly took any time to make it.
Interestingly enough, I made the Viking Penguin Olaf block when I shared the last set of index card drawings. I often thought of posting them together in one post. Before I show them though, I thought I’d share a list of all the mediums I used on this project. I had no idea I used these many!
Micron pens
Micron Gelly Roll pens
Uniball Signo pen – white
Uniball Gel Impact pens – gold and silver
Recollections Metallic pen – copper
Pentel Touch pens – silver and gold
Faber Castell Pitt artist pens
Faber Castell Aquarell watercolour pencils
Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils
Inktense pencils
Prismacolor pencils
Prismacolor markers
Gesso
Turpentine
I have never had any training in painting, I paint because it makes me happy. This project definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me explore new venues.
1. Carnival 2. Milky Way map 3. Edwardian Mailbox for P. G. Wodehouse
4. Owl – playing in the rain 5. Taxi 6. Element Picker
7. Solitude in rain 8. Wind turbine sentinel 9. Vintage Porsche
10. California poppy 11. Corn lilies 12. Tardis
13. Grey dappled foal 14. Route 66 neon sign 15. National parks of America
16. Melrose Abbey 17. Fairy Door 18. Snow Globe
19. Dryburgh Abbey 20. Disco 21. Psychedelic gravitational waves
22. For Alan Turing 23. Devil’s Postpile 24. Dancing neurons
25. Peacock feather 26. Endeavour & transit of Venus 27. Solar prominence
28. Ice cream 29. Shel Silverstein 30. Exploding clock
31. Blustery autumn day 32. Unplugged 33. Pre-dawn driving
34. Self-portrait – walking into the unknown 35. Steampunk wings 36. Stargazing
37. My violins 38. Tell Them Stories 39. Solar eclipse and Shuttle Endeavour
40. Paper tunnel 41. Vineyard 42. Svalbard
43. Focusing through lens 44. Saturday night 45. Playing summer 78 by Yann Tiersen on piano
46. Love to walk 47. Dancing Aurora 48. Aston Martin
49. Snowdrop 50. Star trails 51. Garden bench
52. Downpour 53. Mail 54. Affair of hearts
55. Western view of sunrise 56. Brunel’s SS Great Britain 57. Historic hot air balloon
58. Edinburgh flat 59. Explore other worlds 60. William Blake – Eternity in an hour
I hope you enjoyed them. Many thanks to you for leaving encouraging comments, to Dixie from Arranged Words for inspiring me with her artwork to get back to painting, and to my husband for putting up with “I’ll be right there, just need to finish this one little bit” while he took care of a lot of things during those two months.
This year I am doing the daily photo project and sharing the photos on the monthly Wandering Camera linky party that I am also hosting here.
Wandering Camera
I suppose I like these immersing projects way too much! Art is good for the soul, right?!
-Soma
More From Whims And Fancies
Viking Penguin Olaf, Paintings And Eclipse
Fair Isle Star Pillow And Drawing Cards
Warmth From The Poles
To Hellenikon And Drawing Cards
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